December 2015

As2015 comes to a close,sadly we didn’t quite hit our target of2000 cats. But we start November with 1777.The OctoberTNRteam wereas per usualfantastic,pulling together when the Vet Nurse was not available at the last minute.Our new antipodean vet Rebecca, out on her first trip, did exceptionally well neutering between 27 and 29 catsperday.SUPER!

Saffron and Katie, both regulars, jumped in to replace the VN. Laura organisedthe paperwork for cats in – cats out. The hero of the weekSeb, Katies new husband, whodid an amazing job trapping and returning our furry felinefriends.

Anotherassistingwith a permanent smile on her face wasRachel Dutton who volunteered whilst here on holiday, shefitted in amazinglywell doing a great job helping everyone. Hopefully she will join us again next year.

Rebecca, Laura, Seb, Katie and Saffron

Rachel checking on cats; Laura with her paperwork

This TNR program was executed in 2 new areas Kiotari and Gennadi bothvillages South of the island. Although the first couple of days were spentin Asklipio for a general tidy up. Altogether 178 cats were trapped, neutered and returned.

GCWS-Rhodes in the past 3 years have had approx 10 team visits and it was assumed that most of the island would have knowledge ofour programbut repeatedlythe trappers came across particular people whoangrily and wrongly thought we were culling and desperately tried to chase the cats away.

Locals who understood why we were there explained, thankfully leaving the trappers alone to do their job.

Gennadi unfortunately was overrun with youngkittens and a decision had to be made between us, if anytrappedbetween 8 and10 weeksshould be neutered?Normally that would be too young here, however if we had ignored themwithin a couple of monthsthe females would be pregnantdestroying all our hard work.All kittens neutered were monitored and stayed longer than usual. They were given plenty of food, antibiotics, vitamins andvery happy to report every one of them left us in excellent condition. A Job well done.

Large male we came across

Another large healthy male neutered

Withoutfail during the TNRprogramswealways seem to haveemergencies, this time wasno different. The first was a call from locals regarding a cat that somehow had survived an accident but with internal injuriessadly she did not survive the anaesthetic.

Another emergency, a well knowncat (Kitler) living in Pefkos,lovedby tourists and locals alike, hadadreadful respiratory problemand needed a great deal ofTLC.After spending a few nights in the bedroom of Katie and Seb he then came back with me to finish his course of medication, the extra six days in the warmth being fed twice a day worked wonders,

Happily he isnow back at his old stomping grounds with Yanni our Pied Piper of Pefkos watching over him.

Yianni our famous Pefkos feeder

Kitler warm and comfortable with a visitor Patch

On the teams last dayanother call cameinregardinga car/cat accident. The poor male wasbadly injured and was carried to a small corner of a building where sadly he was euthanised.

These occurrences are normal throughout the year andobviously financially very draining especially asthis yearover 60 emails, messages and phone calls regarding sick and injured cats were received.

It is extremely frustrating and depressingnot having enough people on the island to work with GCWS-Rhodes plusfinancesto assist these poor creatures.The money received from GCWS-UK and donations which are desperately required for purchasing our drugs, medications and other items for the TNR programs do not and will never cover vetbills for emergencies.

Once our teams had left another foreign cat charity, Flying Cats of Germany sent over another vet and nurse to neuter stray cats and dogs. These teams inevitably work in theRhodes town council clinic, magnificently fitted out with everything required for sterilising, however appointments and delivery times are allotted making it a little more difficult living so far away. They kindly invited us to trap and deliver10 x cats whichin one quick hour were nabbed in Kremasti, along with another 6 x in Haraki taking ourtotal to1793.

During this summer season, we have received some larger than normal donations from tourists that have requested particular cats to be sterilised. Two generous, kind German ladies Simone and Christina actually drove to Lindos searching forsomeone involved with GCWS-Rhodes, they were informed in actual fact we were holding a table top in Asklipio 40 minutesin theopposite direction. They found us and offered to pay for a female and6 siblings at a hotel in Lardos, having never visitedthis particular hotel there was no idea if management were friendly towards cats or would drive them away. Our fears were unfounded with thecat loving owneroffering to open a safefeeding area in the spaciousgrounds opposite the beach.

With this in mindwe now have over a dozen cat friendly hotels with feeding areas, a new page on our website, Cat Friendly Accommodation, is now dedicated to hotels, apartments and accommodation,including contact detailshere on the island.

Tourists will have departed the island by Decemberandtrappingmade a great deal easier, finances allowingmore neutering willproceed using the local vets hopefully boosting our numbers ready for the April teamhittingthe magic2000!

There is a possibly once more working in a totally new area on the west side of the island nearly 1.5hrs away. It could bea huge logistical challenge and will need all hands on deck plus far more transport vehicles. Optimistically, there ishuge potentialwith large catcoloniesand with time to consider all aspects of the program, where we will work, accommodation, transportperhaps even join forces with another charity based in that area could all work in our favour. Update in our February newsletter.

Last month a short email was sent to many of our UK friends and supporters explaining how easyfundraising worksand whywe receive donations made quarterly from any purchases our supporters make.

With Christmas so close, gifts required, general shopping , holidays and many other online purchasingitems GCWS-Rhodescan only benefit.

Last quarter we received £99.95which equates to 3 cats neutered or 6 20kilo bags of biscuits.Thank you.